Well, that’s exactly what Rap Genius has to say to Jay-Z: while ‘best interview’ isn’t an easily measurable metric (and to be honest, he’s barely a top-10 interview), we actually can, using state-of-the-art linguistic analysis software, quantify Jay’s performance in some other rap categories like speed, vocab variety, word length, etc. the same way we come up with statistics for sports (or finance).

Now, this isn’t to say that “Without Me” is a better song than “Juicy”. Different song styles will yield different numbers. BUT — we do contend that over the course of a career, the rappers with the highest rhyme densities are basically the best technical rappers.

So Based on Rhyme Density™, which rappers test out the best?

MF Doom .44

Cam'ron .41

Big Pun .40

Eminem .38

Fabolous .36

MF Doom surprised us a little. First the big New Yorker profile and now this…it’s too much! Cam'ron is much more culturally relevant and interesting (plus he doesn’t need to wear a mask, he’s naturally silly), so we at RapMetrics™ consider him the G.O.A.T. MC overall.

Cam receiving the call from RapMetrics™ with the news that he’s the G.O.A.T.

Of course, some RapMetrics™ results are just too counter-intuitive to accept. Illmatic and Blueprint don’t really stand out as albums, RapMETRICally™ speaking — even though in real life they are two of the hardest albums of all time. Notorious B.I.G. is quantitatively average, while ACTUALLY he was one of the best rappers who ever lived. What RapMetrics™ does is provide a basis for who is good, technically speaking. Quality of music doesn’t necessarily mean great technical ability, so take it all with a grain of salt.

OUR VISION: One day, nerds are going to be arguing online about rap using numbers instead of their totally worthless subjective opinion! This is the goal of RapMetrics™..

RAP NERDS: If you have any hypotheses you’d like us to test, let us know in comments…